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High Gluten Flour in NYC

High Gluten Flour in NYC

HI All,

I'm planning on baking bagels using the BBA formula in a few weeks and I'm trying to plan ahead. I live in NYC and work in Rockland County and so far I haven't been able to find any real high gluten flour in my local supermarkets. I stress the word real because I was almost fooled by a few flour brands that call their flours high gluten but are really closer in gluten content to bread flour. I've read on TFL that the easiest way to obtain HG flour is online (like KA's catalog) but I was wondering if anyone can suggest a local source in NYC (or Brooklyn or Rockland County)? And while I'm at it, can anyone suggest a similar source for non-diastatic malt?

Thanks for the info Scott! Bread flour is actually pretty readily available around here, especially KA and Gold Medal. I'm actually looking for something with an even higher gluten content (at least 14%) such as KA Sir Lancelot, which I've only seen in a huge sack during a bread baking class.

Thanks for the suggestion Dave! I hadn't considered that option and didn't even know that was doable (learning new things every day!) How would I go about making this substitution? Is there a certain amount of VWG that would be recommended to add? And how would I adjust the hydration to make up for this addition?

I get KA Sir lancelot in bulk (the 50 lb "huge sack" for <$20) from a bakery supplier in Edison, NJ, maybe an hour drive down from the city. I've never seen it in a grocery store around here (NE Jersey or NYC)

These guys are very easy to work with, just call a few hours ahead, show up at the warehouse and pay in cash.

That sounds like a great price for that volume. My in-laws live in Edison so I'm familiar with the area. If I had more space and baked more often maybe I would consider dividing and storing the flour in smaller amounts but right now I have nowhere to keep such a large sack of flour.

For adding to flour, the box states to add a certain amount per cup of flour. I think the amount is 1/2 a teaspoon of VWG per cup of flour, but I am not certain. Each cup of flour is going to be something like 150g to 200g (you might want to measure this yourself with a cup, a scale, and some flour) so you can add it on a per mass (instead of per volume) basis.

I'm not sure about hydration. I would suggest you search the TFL forums for "VWG" and/or "vital wheat gluten" and see what comes up.

Alternatively you could simply add the VWG and make the recipe per the instructions and find out what happens (and adjust the next batch based on your results).

I've not seen anything above the protein percentage of KA Bread Flour for general retail in the city, but as above posters have recommended, I have seen wheat gluten sold (Arrowhead Mills and Bob's Red Mill, generally). I don't usually buy my flours in Manhattan, but I find that most stores in Brooklyn and Queens calling themselves health food or organic retailers usually have a good selection of either one or the other of these brands. More and more often other retailers like Key Foods and Pioneer are expanding their inventory of this stuff, too.

are in Westchester and NYC I suggest picking your favorite bagel shop and asking if they'd let you purchase some flour from them. Another option is a pizza place of your liking. Many bagel and pizza shops work with High Protein Flour and I'm sure would be willing to sell you some. I recall Rockland Bakery making some good bread and they may also be able to help. I suggest calling around first to save yourself time. Some will be willing while others not. They will probably give you the flour at a good price too.

Thanks for the info Scott! Bread flour is actually pretty readily available around here, especially KA and Gold Medal. I'm actually looking for something with an even higher gluten content (at least 14%) such as KA Sir Lancelot, which I've only seen in a huge sack during a bread baking class.

Bro - King Arthur Bread flour - the one in the blue bag at the market IS Lancelot flour.

Lancelot and Galahad are the names of their commercial sized bags, but they are the exact same flours that they sell as Bread flour and AP flour, the blue and red bags respectively.

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